Orange Belgium, one of the leading telecommunication operators in Belgium, has announced a nationwide roll-out of Narrow Band-IoT (NB-IoT) and LTE-M technologies – popularly known as ‘Mobile IoT’ on its network.

The NB-IoT and LTE-M technologies are Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) cellular network layers that facilitate large number of objects to be connected to IoT.

LPWA technologies offer many advantages when connecting objects to IoT such as; extending battery life of the connected equipment, reducing the cost of the radio modules inside the devices, and tracking smart objects.

Mobile IoT technologies enable full bidirectional communication between the object and the network. They offer enhanced mobile coverage of up to +20dB compared to 2G/4G coverage which can significantly improve signal penetration inside buildings.

As this technology operates in a licensed spectrum, safe IoT connectivity is assured. Secure connections are also derived from the SIM card thanks to LTE networks' unique capabilities in terms of authenticating and encrypting the data in transit.

Gabriel Flichy, Chief Technology Officer of Orange Belgium, said: "The choice for Mobile IoT technologies is future-proof as it is fully consistent with the future evolution towards 5G. It will then be possible to connect objects that require very high reliability e.g. for the remote control of critical devices and automation processes.”

“Today we are already using our Mobile IoT network together with the Flemish government for a project with connected bikes in collaboration with our partners Huawei and Sensinxs; IMEC is testing a smart plug project as part of Antwerp's City of Things program and we have teamed up with CommuniThings for smart parking solutions.We invite all application developers, system integrators and early adopters to test the advantages of Orange Mobile IoT network."

What are your thoughts on Orange Belgium’s LPWA network? Let us know in the comments.